EDITORIAL: Resurgent McCain blasts Neo-Soviet Russia

Last week Senator and presidential candidate John McCain gave us Russophobes an amazing early Christmas present, delivering a blistering attack on neo-Soviet Russia at one of the world’s most prestigious institutes of foreign policy, Johns Hopkins University. The speech was immediately touted by conservative pundits as a declaration of war by the newly empowered Republican Party upon the craven appeasement policies of the Obama adminstration.

McCain pulled no punches. He called for massive new shipments of arms to Georgia, condeming Russia for continuing “to occupy 20 percent of Georgia’s sovereign territory” and “building military bases there” and “permitting the ethnic cleansing of Georgians in South Ossetia, and denying access to humanitarian missions – all in violation of Russia’s obligations under the ceasefire agreement negotiated by President Sarkozy.” He openly mocked the Kremlin, stating: “The World Bank considers Georgia the 12th best place in the world to do business; Russia is 123rd. Russia’s decline is a human tragedy, but it is also a geopolitical reality. Put simply, Russia is becoming less and less capable of being a global, great power partner with the United States.”

And that was just for starters.

He pointed out the stark differences between US and Russian interests, papered over by the craven Obama administration:

Whereas the United States has an interest in improving and deploying missile defenses in Europe, Foreign Minister Lavrov has called these systems ‘absolutely inadmissible’ and threatened to pull out of New START if we do so. Whereas we have an interest in beginning negotiations with Russia to reduce its stockpiles of tactical nuclear weapons, which are nearly ten times larger than ours, Russia is increasingly relying on those weapons as part of its military doctrine, as recent news reports may suggest. Whereas we have an interest in an open global energy market, Russia still uses its oil and gas as political weapons. And whereas we support the independence and territorial integrity of Russia’s neighbors, Russia still treats these sovereign countries as part of its old imperial stomping grounds.

Then he launched a devestatingly brutal and detailed attack on Russia’s human rights record:

Take the tragic cases of Russia’s last remaining independent journalists. A month ago, one Russian journalist who covered political movements and protests was beaten by attackers who broke his jaw, both his legs, and many of his fingers – a clear political message to other writers. No one has been charged for this crime. Another journalist who exposed corruption was attacked last year and left for dead, with brain damage so severe that he can no longer speak. He, too, had his fingers smashed, three of which had to be amputated, as did one of his legs. No one has been charged in this case either. Yet another journalist this year was beaten unconscious while covering a political rally, and then beaten further as he lay limp on the ground, by a gang of plain-clothes police officers. This attack was even captured on video, and not only were charges never brought against the officers, the victim was later pressured by authorities to accept blame for the attack himself. Sadly, I could go on and on like this, to say nothing of the many unsolved murders.

Russia’s beleaguered political opposition fairs no better than its journalists. I have met a few times this year with former Deputy Prime Minister Boris Nemtsov, who organizes peaceful political rallies to protest the lack of democracy in Russia, as is their right under the Russian constitution. But these rallies are often targeted and violently broken up by Russian authorities. And then there is the sad ongoing saga of Mikhail Khodorkovsky, whose company was stolen from him, and who has languished in jail for seven years. When his sentence expired recently, new charges were manufactured against him. He is not being tried by a jury, just a single judge, and the political fix has been in for a long time. He could now face up to 12 more years in prison. If ever there were a case of ‘legal nihilism’ – of an affront to the very values of equal justice that we hold dear – the case of Khodorkovsky is it.

The same can be said about the case of Sergei Magnitsky, a tax attorney for an American investor who uncovered the theft by Russian officials of $230 million from the Russian treasury. Because of Magnitsky’s relentless investigation into this corruption, the Russian Interior Ministry threw him in jail to silence him. He was deprived of clean water, left in a freezing cell for days, and denied medical care. After 358 days of this abuse, Sergei Magnitsky died. He was 37. Not only has the Russian government held no one accountable, several officials connected to Magnitsky’s imprisonment and murder have actually received commendations.

Cases like these make a mockery of the idea that Russia is governed by the rule of law, and unfortunately, they lead to one of two conclusions: Either President Medvedev tolerates these injustices, or he is incapable of stopping them.

These words, coming from the Republican Party’s last candidate for president on the heels of the party’s devastating defeat of the Democrats in the legislative elecions, ought to send shivers down the spine of the reptilian dictator Vladimir Putin. Having endorsed McCain for president, we could not be more pleased or proud at his resurgence, and we urge him to continue the fight until the final reversal of Obama’s cowardly and shameful acts is completed and Putin’s clan of spies is driven from power once and for all.

Actually moron, he was US Naval Air Service, they only struck military targets in north Vietnam, they did not use napalm up north.

Of course we could talk about how you Russians manufactured mines that looked like traditional Afghan toys in order to inflict casualties upon the Afghan civilian population, or the deliberate targeting of civilians in every war you Russians have fought, including the ongoing war in Chechnya, and the ethnic cleansing of Georgians from South Ossetia and Abkhazia.

Why don’t you comrade (brain dead) Milovan, instead tell us about the thousands upon thousands of anti personnel mines that the communist scum dropped over Afghanistan? Which were made to look like little green butterflies so that Afghanistani children would think that they were toys and pick them up only to lose a hand in the resulting explosion. Similarly if the child stepped on them, then they would lose part of the foot. Whichever way the child became a cripple and a burden to their parents.

In other words these mines were sown by the ‘liberating’ RuSSians to maim children and not kill them.

Ah comrade “Evil Empire” the more you interrupt the more I laugh at your blatant simple mindedness, face the real fact – you just cannot fathom the truth about the other evil empire – your beloved fascist ruSSia. Keep on doing what you excel on – which is lying, lying and more pure unadulterated lying.

Remember dear “Nashi card carrying member” there were a lot of brain damaged Nazi lovers (sound familiar to you? if not change the word Nazi to soviet communist) who did believe in the Nazi concentration camps until these ‘Nazi Siberian holiday camps for the Jews’ were overrun at war’s end. These brain damaged goons were then noticeable for the silence emanating from their stupid – pre German surrender – mouths!

Keep up the propaganda comrade ‘Gay’ oops I mean guy, you are always good for a real laugh!!! LOL, LOL and more definitely more LOL’s!!!

Maybe next time you try to express yourself in Ukrainian? This would make much more sense, and let everybody around read and understand you. I kind of don’t want to push you on this, but….you know what I mean?

Actually ‘Evil’ Empire? as usual you speak with”forked tongue” by saying “This would make much more sense, and let everybody around read and understand you.” Now let me get this straight ‘everybody’ for your solitary person? when you are a small misguided voice in the wilderness!! and you view yourself as ‘everybody’. Now if that is not delusions of grandeur, than what is it?

Your other remark, “No I don’t know what you mean”, just shows up the simpleton mentality that pervades your world. So be good enough to explain where your problem is and how it is. But please no soviet communist bull sh*t, just stick to the truth, the real plain truth. And ‘father confessor’ Bohdan will try and help you, my misguided son – bless you – with emphasis on the “try and help”. But don’t hold your breath as I certainly am not.

Lastly dear one, La Russophobe is an English Blog, hence there is no need whatsoever in me writing in Ukrainian. Because if I were to be disrespectful to LR’s rules and just do that, then only the genuine ‘Ukes’ would understand. And I most certainly doubt that you speak and write in the true Ukrainian language – as opposed to the Russian speaking Ukrainians.

Pure sweet unadulterated music to the heart to read this truth about that “reptilian dictator Vladimir Putin”. And the fact that America once again has a voice – that exposes the pure evil of present day Russia – so unlike that stupid, weak and gutless Russian arse licking buffoon B.O.

Nemtsov said it was in the Kremlin’s interests to foment tensions so it can use the resulting violence as a pretext to introduce new, tougher laws on public protests ahead of a new presidential election cycle.

Asked if he had ever ordered Russian special services to kill traitors, Putin said he stopped doing that a long time ago, but added that the “animal” who betrayed the 10 sleeper spies who were arrested in the United States this summer will not live happily.

“Russia’s special services don’t do that (kill traitors),” he said. “As for the traitors, they will croak themselves.

“Russia’s special services don’t” exist. It’s only organized crime groups belonging to a single syndicate, his. Very well organized, though – the best in the world – and controlling the largest country by landmass.

If wasn’t for the monstrosity of Sarah Palin, I am convinced this man would be our president today. Good or bad it is not known, when you put an old, close to senile man against a megalomaniac with empirical ambitions such as Putin, this creates a relatively strong chance of radiation in the air. But in any event, obviously there is a lot of truth to what he says but none of it is really new.

Also, the so called ‘Empire’ released new uniforms, except they overlooked a relatively important element:

A true Russian patriot would never never send their son to the so-called “army” of to the criminals occupying the country, so he would risk being exploited, extorted, beaten, tortured, raped, murdered there by his “collegues” and “superiors” (slave-masters) there.

And now even the traditional “loyal Caucasians” the Ossetians are fleeing the draft en masse to South Ossetia:

1.)Russian forces do not ‘occupy’ 20% of Georgia. They are under the jurisdiction of the Abkhazian and South Ossetian governments, which are independant states, thus that 20% of Georgia is no longer 20% of Georgia weather some people see it as such or not.
2.)There are no military bases under construction in former Georgian space, there are plans to build American military bases, however.
3.)No ethnic cleansing, the Georgians left on their own or were illegal immigrants. No evidence to support this. There was violence and civil disorder, mostly during the war, and mostly as a result of Georgian provocations.
4.)Humanitarian missions WERE allowed in, what about HALO trust?

Hey boria, is it true that one of the greatest countries in the world, the Island of Nauru, that supposedly recoganized South Osetia an dAbkhazia made a little booboo and recognized TATARSTAN instead????? whoops.

I know, dear boriasha, it is painful even for primitive half human like you to stomack the great russian diplomatic ‘achievements’ – e.g.,lost war with Georgia, lost influence in the central asia, degradation of russia to the status of the 3rd world country by USA, etc – look at the latest great success in Iran – I would strongly advise mr. lavrov [whoops he is a tbiliskoy ormiashka his name is probably karapet karapetiantz..] not to go to iran he could have met the same faith as mr. griboyedov the newly appointed russian ambassador to persia by the tzar who was beheaded on its arrival in Tehran – what a great diplomatic success it was for russia…….and you are getting bettter and better…..

1.) Russia won the war in Georgia. Read any article about it.
2.) Russia gained influence in Central Asia. Opened up a new air-base, started a new government, increased military presence, began the tamozheniy soyuz.
3.) Russia is modernizing, at a pace where it will be a first world nation in 2015-2020.
4.) Russia doesn’t care much for Iran, Russia cares about the legality of the US policy toward Iran. If Putin’s been in Iran, I don’t think Lavrov has much to fear, the Iranis welcomed him.
5.) I see you’ve made 11 spelling/grammatical/logical errors.

boris2 – a reality check, perhaps…
1. 95% of russians live without running water, gas or electricity – sick, hungry, drunk and dirty.
2. hospitals in russia are at the level of hospitals in Uganda – e.g., of 150 victims in Perm’s fire ALL 150 died -100% success russian style..
3. 80% of young generation of Russia are HIV positive – the inflaw of drugs from Afghanistan WILL NEVER STOP thanks to russian mafia that run the country – future russian army will be 80% HIV positive – priceless!!
4.The only instractructure that works in russia is the gulag systems;
5. so called modernization of russia is only possible because of technology coming from the WEST – the modernization in russia gears exclusively to West’s interest e.g., oil and to lesser extend gas [gas industry in russia was destroyed by american shale gas – prices of russian gas went down 45%].
6. Skolkovo is the idiocy beyond imagination that will never materialize.
7. Army, navy and air forces of russia – a total joke – is Kursk still on a secret under water mission??? are bulava misiles reached any target?? The fearless Black Sea Russian fleet should be kept in the archeological museum.
8. Central Asia is totally under chinese control as well as Siberia which is being retaken by chinese.
9. In 1998 USA saved your meaningless, pathetic russian lives from total starvation; it seems to me that this winter russians will starve again – what an ‘empire’….

“On December 10, we had to start putting to death over one million chickens and shutting down the factory, with over 1,000 people to lose their jobs on the eve of New Years,” Butkeyev said. “We don’t have any other options left.”

Shrinking empire, perhaps you were dead drunk as 99.9% of russians are – by the way, I would be too if I had to live in the sh…t hole called russia. Although there are some improvements e.g., Anna Chapman is touring russia’s heartland/siberia using those modern motorways, roads and all moder eqauipment available??????

Hey Bariis, comparing aaausa’s intelligence to yours, believe me he/she has a long, long way to go before they reach your withered level!

But, changing the subject, how’s about you telling us about, through personal experience, your beloved RuSSia under the leadership of that lying, corrupt, venomous and murdering dictator Putin? Or better still about your good buddies, all those goons in the “Nashi” brigades – now that would be something interesting to read about.

Absolute rubbish Boris, I mean I know you are a liar, but showing your lies for what they are is simply too easy.

Russia builds listening post sparking fears of Georgia strike
Russia is building a sophisticated radar and electronic survelliance station on a new military base in the breakaway Georgian territory of South Ossetia, according to a senior official in Georgia’s government.

Russia to Sign Deal on Military Base in South Ossetia on Wednesday
Jorge Benitez | April 06, 2010

From RIA Novosti: Russia and South Ossetia are expected to sign an agreement on a Russian military base in the former Georgian republic on Wednesday, a Russian Defense Ministry spokesman said.
The deal is to be signed between Russian Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov and his South Ossetian counterpart Yury Tanayev, who is currently on a working visit to Moscow, said Alexei Kuznetsov. ..
A similar agreement was signed in Moscow on February 17 with Abkhazia, another former Georgian republic. The agreement is for a 49-year term and can automatically be prolonged at 15-year intervals. …
The military bases are expected to be built in Gudauta, Abkhazia, and Tskhinval, South Ossetia. Each base is likely to host up to 1,700 servicemen, T-62 tanks, light armored vehicles, S-300 air defense systems and various aircraft.

Russia is doomed, and unfournately they don’t want to go down alone. They can to take Caucasus (Georiga and N. Caucasus) with them, because for centuries Russia has been jealous of people of the Caucasus. just leave us alone! That’s all we ask!

hey good empire you better start learning chinese, a mandarin version, as soon as possible all of you russian slaves ARE ALREADY chinese slaves – only you poor peasants don’t know it yet why because you are drunk 24/7 with the contaminated russian samogon and high on afghan heroin…But it is only for your good – you will be better off under chinese then under your own government, hopefully chinese wouldn’t send you to siberia…

Heh, the funny part is that I’m Ukranian. And it’s because of fools like you that assume such things that liberals are laughed at in Russia. Yes, Georgians left on their own, because they’re Georgians living in a country they’re at war with, and a lot of them genuinly believed in lies of Western media, because they’re Georgians, and a people who’s country is being shamed all around them tend to believe that which undoes the shame.

But in name only, because I’ll bet my bottom dollar that you most probably talk in your mother Russian tongue? Yes, what say you in reply, you descendant of the ethnic Russians that repopulated Eastern Ukraine after the original Ukrainians were transported en masse in the early days of the communist regime, courtesy of the murdering NKVD, on the death trains to that communist ‘paradise’ called Siberia.

That must have been a real bonanza to the Russians! why? well because the original Ukrainian’s were evicted by force – being only allowed to take with them what they could physically carry – while the new (Russian) owners were given in return land, a house (fully furnished) to live in, and farming implements to till the rich soil – all at no cost whatsoever to the new immigrants.

“If wasn’t for the monstrosity of Sarah Palin, I am convinced this man would be our president today.”

No he’s a member of the Keating Five and everybody in California knows it and without California you don’t get elected. He was the fall guy for the focus group positive Obama. Palin is a trained talking head with no substance and a right wing presence. Nemtsov is a political corpse looking for a new free lunch. It seems that Putin knows quite a bit about Khordorkovsky after all.

I agree Don, McCain would not have been elected, with or without Sarah Palin, but for a different reason I think. According to some research Sarah Palin cost him many votes but she brought some votes too; it was most likely a wash. The Keating Five affair was 20 years ago or so and nobody remembers it anyway (the fact that you do really dates you, doesn’t it?)

It’s all much simpler: in the economic situation that we had in 2008 no Republican had a chance, even if they dug out and dusted off Reagan or even Abe Lincoln, they would have lost too.

I disagree with you who dislike Sarah. She is a deep intellect who is undermining a corrupt Rino and Democratic establishment. If they had the character to ignore her she would be nobody, but they have no character. She is apparently without moral fault which drives them into madness.

She is definitely undermining those corrupt Rinos and Democrats; she is a classic right wing populist along the lines of Huey Long. And she may be without “moral fault” whatever that is. But “a deep intellect?” Give me a break Ron. You must be joking. I am not sure the woman can even read and write.

At least she comes across as a semi-literate person. I appreciate her ability to club a halibut to death or to strangle a polar bear with her bare hands, but I think for a politician it’s more important to have a good education

Boris ,
” you are afool my dear Kate ” , And you are a LIAR , my dear
” Boris ” . You are too stupid to pass y ourself of as a Ukrainian , since
no real Ukrainian would spell his name the way you do . What you
are ” BoRIS ” is one of those moskali who infest Ukraine , you may BE FROM Ukraine but you are NOT Ukrainian . Ukrainians always
sympathize with their Georgian friends and other Caucasian people ,
and will AWAYS be with them AGAINST the backward , fatherless
scum ; moskali . So go play with yourself among your own and
keep pretending that Muscovy is the greatest , most powerful
country in the world .

To me, her overt and in-your-face anti-intellectualism is the worst part. I am really sick and tired hearing all these speeches denouncing “elites.” Nixon used to do the same , I recall, but at least he had brilliant mind

Eight FSB-agents (allegedly hunters,LOL) shot dead on a spy-mission in a forest in Kabardino-Balkaria!!!

Naive western idiots will now cry “oh,these bad muslims killed innocent hunters”. I hate our treacherous Western World and our politicians. Long live the rebels in Kabardino-Balkaria,i pray,that they kill even more of these russian terrorists,who claim to be hunters!!!! “hunting” in a war-zone. Only a fool can believe this. As the german guy says in his report,they were on a spying mission in this forest for the russian army

Huey Long was a total, dirty bastard. My father once said that he wished he could have been the one that killed Huey Long. I was surprised at my father’s comment as father was a very mild mannered man. Instead Huey was shot full of holes by the son in law of a Judge that Huey had ruined.

Well, Sarah’s rhetorics is similar, making allowances for the changed times, of course. I realize that Huey was a kind of Mussolini in waiting, and most definitely was a criminal thug. Sarah is certainly neither of these things. But he loved attacking the educated classes and wore his folksy “simplicity” on his sleeve. So does she.

More than most, having grown up in a state that was once a Russian territory,
that still carries signs of that long tenure, from Wassila (a corruption of William) to Wrangel and Sitka, she was keenly aware when the MIGs launched intrusions into US Air space, she commented, NORAD denied this was going on, her support of missile defense, as well as admission of Georgia as a NATO member, for the F-22, for our efforts in Afghanistan, She has tackled the oligarchs in her state, which have prevented any substantial development of the resources, so there might be a slight resemblance, They know her as the Okhanitsa, the Huntress,

“I believe that the heaviest blow ever dealt at liberty’s head will be dealt by this nation the United States in the ultimate failure of its example to the earth.” — Charles Dickens

early 20th century:

“America is a mistake, admittedly a gigantic mistake, but a mistake nevertheless.” — Sigmund Freud

mid 20th century:

“The United States is evil … it is the canker of the world. A single nation that has succeeded in lowering the intelligence, the morality, the quality of the human race almost throughout the globe is a phenomenon never before experienced since the beginning of time. I accuse the United States of being in a constant state of crime against humanity … Catholicism has made man stupid, but it has not degraded him; it has introduced as many good and beautiful things as bad things. The United States have simply degraded humanity. Catholicism has done less harm in two thousand years than the United States in two hundred.” — Henry de Montherlant (Chaos and Night)

early 21st century:

“The United States is evil. It has to be brought down, it has to be eliminated from the world scene. They are the ones who have made the world the hell that it is.” — Bobby Fischer (broadcast on Russian radio in 2008)

Pied Piper:
(1) Sigmund Freud ‘s reputation was ruined when it was discovered that he believed mental illness was centered in the nose.
(2) Bobby Fischer was a great chess player, but rabidly hated jews.
(3) Charles Dicken’s comment does not seem adverse to the American ideas of liberty.
(4) I am not familiar with Henry de Montherlant so I cannot comment.

I think you need to make your case by explaining things America has done and showing how it is adverse to human welfare.

All of these people are entitled to their views. But bare quotes out of context mean nothing. I happened to know the context within which Dickens’ made his statement, but otherwise it’s meaningless. Dickens was extremely upset because of the lack of international copyright laws at that time and many American publishers simply published his works and paid him nothing.

I don’t know who Montherlant is or was, but why millions and millions of those people come to America if they are going to be degraded? Ever thought of that?

What are you saying by providing these quotes? That America is evil? We don ‘t really care. There are billions of envious persons among America haters. I guess you are one of them, but one more or less makes no difference.

Appearently “especially de Montherlant” became some kind of idol and moral compass for the “Russophiles”/”Russian patriots” (I don’t think it’s just one), so I guess they also have or should have sex with boys while writing bad things about America and good things about Nazi Germany, and I hope they will also follow his advice and in the end commit suicide too.

Some more look into the minset of a “Germanophile” that the “Russophiles” now look up to:

Giono’s pacifism, Montherlant’s nihilistic ethics and sexual politics, and Châteaubriant’s Christian mysticism, no matter how diverse, and largely contradictory, these passions were, all led them to collusion with Vichy, Fascism and/or Nazism. (…) None of them were strictly speaking “literary Fascists” (although Montherlant came close to fitting the mold), but they all shared some aspect of antimodernism. (…) Montherlant’s cult of youth, virility and misogyny, contempt for slave races, and exaltation of heroic virtues and the beauty of the male body were closer to Fascist politics and aesthetics. (…) Golsan argues that the tension in Montherlant’s work between “force and charity” and his obsession with a kind of individual, personal transcendental asceticism eventually led him to a pessimistic disenchantment with and disengaged indifference to the historical fate of Nazism. Because of the centrality of Montherlant’s sexuality to his male-centered warrior ethics, his acts of collaboration were also a means to an apolitical, self-serving end, “the freedom to roam the streets and movie houses in search of adolescent boys with whom the writer could have sex” (p. 49). Montherlant’s nihilism, whose roots were both metaphysical and sexual, ultimately led to self-deception and allowed him “to convince himself, at least, that he maintained his own ‘freedom’ during the war, despite compromising involvements and pronouncements, and to claim after the Liberation that he had not collaborated” (p. 50).

Russia is destroying itself and we respect russia’s choices- if you enter Moscow you are in the central asian city – on the streets 8 out 10 are of central asian origin – uzbeck, kyrgyz, kazakhs, etc.. The russian army is 50% asian. By the way, I don’t understand Russia’s ‘resentment’ toward central asian people while russians themselves are half mongols. Teh best example of typical russian is the konkubine of mr. putine and mother of putin’s bastard son, kabaeva, she is half uzbeck and half russian….

Russians were under the total mongol control for over 400 years – half of russias’ history – russian women were raped by the mongols hence mongol blood in every russian. You, rightly, call yourselves Eurasians.

MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow’s police chief questioned Wednesday whether civil liberties are even practical when authorities need to keep law and order, the latest sign that ethnic tensions in Russia could lead to fresh democratic rollbacks.

His remarks supported Prime Minister Vladimir Putin’s comments on introducing possible restrictions on movement into big cities like Moscow or St. Petersburg, a move that seems to target dark-skinned people in the Caucasus.

The death this month of a young Slavic soccer fan in a fight with people from the southern Caucasus region has led to a nationalist backlash that has spilled into racist violence on the streets. A protest outside the Kremlin saw thousands of Slavic hooligans chanting “Russia for Russians!” and beating nonwhites. Police have since arrested thousands to head off further disturbances.

On Wednesday, Moscow police chief Vladimir Kolokoltsev asked whether Russians’ freedom of movement around the country was partly to blame for the violence.

“All these problems are more difficult to solve compared to a time when a much tougher registration system was in place,” he said. “We really need to have a look at how far our liberal democratic principles correspond to the demands and desires of the city population.”

President Dmitry Medvedev, in contrast, has suggested that participants in unauthorized rallies get a mandatory prison sentence rather than a fine and a warning.

Kremlin critics say ethnic tensions are being fanned deliberately as a pretext to introduce repressive legislation ahead of Russia’s 2012 presidential election. They say the measures floated by authorities could cripple attempts to hold peaceful anti-government demonstrations. A leading Kremlin adviser, Vladimir Surkov, even laid the blame for the violence squarely with Kremlin critics, saying the racist hooligans followed their example of taking to the streets.

Putin and Medvedev have said one of them will run for president, but they won’t compete. Signs continue to appear that Putin, thought to retain real control over Russia since his eight-year stint as president ended in 2008, will remain at the helm.

After meeting with soccer fans Tuesday in a populist show of solidarity, Putin laid flowers at the grave of the slain fan, Yegor Svidorov. Svidorov was a member of the Spartak Moscow team’s fan group and died instantly after being shot with rubber bullets.

Some criticized the move, saying Putin was siding with a known extremist.

Putin has squeezed democratic norms since arriving in office in 2000, including switching from having regional governors elected to making them Kremlin appointees.

I know who this author. I know that you really like Georgia and it’s a good thing. I gave you a link to you felt something the same feeling from reading, reading as many Russian authors such as Nemtsov, Kasyanov, Berezovsky and others.
By the way, note that the article not published in Russian and the Georgian press.

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